The power of legitimacy

Strengthen decision-making by examining cognitive biases, ethical criteria and the consequences of your choices for those affected.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish facts, assumptions and values, and identify biases that shape your judgment.
• Weigh consequences, obligations and fairness when making a decision.
• Justify a difficult choice and identify the information that could lead you to revise it.

In practice. Allocate a limited budget between supporting a struggling business unit and investing in transformation; explain your criteria, then reconsider the decision as new information emerges.

Exercise authority grounded in judgment, fairness and trust: take responsibility for a decision while remaining open to information that challenges it.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish the roles of status, expertise, example and trust in your authority.
• Hear a challenge and acknowledge an error without avoiding responsibility.
• Explain a decision, its limits and the room others have to exercise initiative.

In practice. Present a contested reorganization; hear objections that reveal new information, then explain what you will maintain, what you will change and why.

Respond to dirty tricks in negotiation with Rational Games and the professional actors from Rational Games Players: intimidation, manufactured urgency, guilt-tripping and attempts to unsettle you.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Recognize an unfair tactic and distinguish it from firm disagreement.
• Question pressure, name a tactic and set a boundary without resorting to manipulation.
• Decide when to verify, continue, pause or leave while protecting your interests and principles.

In practice. Face a scenario played by a professional actor, pause to analyze it, then replay it with different responses and feedback from the actor.

Developed with Rational Games, this workshop combines practical simulations with an in-depth debrief to refine your negotiation practice.

For 25 years, Rational Games has taught negotiation through play to businesses and institutions. Its clients include the German Federal Foreign Office, Microsoft and Deutsche Bank.

Develop ethical leadership practices that make it possible to raise concerns, acknowledge mistakes and challenge assumptions, with clear responsibility for each decision.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Bring relevant information and objections into the discussion, including challenges to the leader.
• Guide deliberation that examines criteria, consequences and minority perspectives.
• Specify who decides, who acts and who reviews the effects, without allowing responsibility to become blurred.

In practice. Join a committee under pressure: participants hold different information and a colleague whose voice is often overlooked knows of a critical risk. Deliberate, examine what went unsaid, then replay the decision with better ground rules.

Prepare delegation and succession by making explicit the principles and reasoning that enable others to exercise their own judgment.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to

• Distinguish principles worth preserving from habits that can change.
• Pass on the reasoning behind your choices and the tacit knowledge needed to act.
• Define autonomy and review points that enable others to take responsibility.

In practice. Prepare a real handover, then give your successor an unfamiliar dilemma to resolve without consulting you; assess what was passed on beyond instructions.